Risky palace raids hatched in field tents

The idea to seize two of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces was apparently hatched in a command field tent on Sunday morning rather than by the high command.

Colonel David Perkins and his staff at the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division created the risky plan in the shadow of a highway overpass.

Tanks and armour would be asked to sprint past thousands of Special Republican Guard troops into Baghdad, seize the palaces, the Information Ministry and several key intersections, then hold them.

"The concept was to go in like a pit-bull and get your jaws locked around a target, and then just don't ever let go," said the brigade's executive officer, 41-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Wesley.

If the plan worked, there could be no doubt about the ability of American armour to do whatever it wanted in Baghdad. ");document.write("

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Colonel Perkins passed the idea up the chain of command and was given the approval he needed. Major Joffery Watson, 36, showed the staff "amber" and "red zones" on a satellite map.

Amber zones were areas already secured. Red zones included broad swathes of central Baghdad, where the city's wealthy elite and Ba'ath Party officials were protected by Special Republican Guard troops.

A key to the plan was neutralising regular troops and militiamen who had taken positions on highway bridges, where they would rain grenades on US troops.

Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Gantt's two batteries of six 155-millimetre artillery pieces would hit eight overpasses with "air burst" shells "to force all those guys to keep their heads down until our guys get past".

The operation also needed close air support.

Special Forces units would drive in white Toyota utility vehicles distinguished from the Iraqi paramilitary by bright orange panels.

His most important decision the next day, Colonel Perkins said, would be whether US troops had secured enough control to risk spending the night in Baghdad.

He feared the column might take heavy casualties if it tried to fight its way back south, after the Iraqis had time to regroup.

The column moved out at 5.30am on Monday.

Ten hours later, at the peak of the day's battle, Colonel Perkins stood calmly on a ramp leading to Saddam Hussein's new palace. The place had been wrecked by American tanks and warplanes. Reception rooms were in ruins.

Colonel Perkins stood on the deck, watching massive plumes of black smoke rise from several points on the horizon.

Enormous explosions rattled what remained of the palace windows. Watching his medics treat wounded Iraqi fighters on the grass, the colonel mentioned that he had made his decision.